It is well-known that lactic acid bacteria is used for the production of milk products such as cheese, fermented milk, lactic acid bacteria beverages and the like, and various fermented foods such as Korean Kimchee, pickles and the like. In recent years, various physiological functions of lactic acid bacteria such as intestinal regulation effects and the like have been elucidated, and the fungus body per se of lactic acid bacteria and various lactic acid bacteria cultures are used as materials for health foods and pharmaceutical products, and they are applied to a variety of uses.
Although the culturing of lactic acid bacteria is performed in various forms, the most frequently performed is for the production of lactic acid bacteria formulations, the production of various fermented dairy foods such as fermented milk, lactic acid bacteria beverages, cheese and the like by using a milk ingredient such as animal milk as a medium. However, as the auxotrophy of most of lactic acid bacteria is generally strict, there are many types of lactic acid bacteria that do not sufficiently grow using only a milk ingredient as a medium. In addition, if a certain type of bacteria having a relatively good growth property is used, culturing for a long period of time is necessary to obtain a culture having sufficient acidity (the amount of acid formed) in the production of lactic acid bacteria beverages and the like.
However, culturing of lactic acid bacteria for a long period of time results in a decreased number of living bacteria, and thus there is a problem in the production of lactic acid bacteria beverages and the like in which the number of living bacteria is considered to be important. Therefore, various growth promoting substances capable of increasing the growth of the bacteria to a medium during culturing of lactic acid bacteria are generally added, in order to reduce the culture time. Chlorella extract, iron salts, vitamins, protein degradation products comprising amino acids and peptides, yeast extract and the like are known as growth promoting substances or substances confirmed to be effective for increasing growth.
Further, a method using a water extract of Sake lees and/or a water extract of Sake lees which has been treated with a protein degradation enzyme (Patent Publication 1), a method using an extract of the leaves of a Coffee plant (Patent Publication 2), a method using a complex of a fat with a protein (Patent Publication 3) and the like have been. The applicant of the present application found that extracts of tea, green onions and ginger obtained by extraction with an acid are effective as agents for increasing the growth of lactic acid bacteria, and reported the matter (Patent Publication 4).
On the other hand, it is important that living lactic acid bacteria are delivered into the intestines so as to increase various physiological functions by the lactic acid bacteria. Therefore, in order to maintain a high viability of lactic acid bacteria in a culture or a product comprising the same, a method using a composition comprising 20 to 90 wt % of a fat in which phospholipids account for 40 to 55 wt %, with respect to all solid components (Patent Publication 5), and a method using dead fungus bodies of lactic acid bacteria (Patent Publication 6) were proposed.